Wire basket.



J. B. PORTER & E. B. JENKINS.

WIRE BASKET.

. 1908. 936,736. Patented oct.12,1909.

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f j. #wiwi/agli! gvrlu J. B. PORTER 65E. B. JENKINS.

WIRE BASKET. APPLI'UATIUN FILED Amm, 190s.

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936,736. Patented 0Qn.12,19o9.

VQ QM UNITED srkrris PATENT Ormea.

JAMES BAIRD PORTER AND EDWIN BURDETTE JENKINS, 0F PITTSBURG, PENN-SYLVANIA.

WIRE BASKET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, J AMES BAIRD PORTER and EDWIN BURDETTE JENKINS,both citizens of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the countyof Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new anduseful Wire Basket, of which the following is a specication, referencebeing had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to wire baskets especially designed for thetransportation and haldling of farm products and goods in genera In themanufacture of baskets of wire it has been found dificult to produce abasket having sufficient strength and rigidity .to withstand hard andrepeated usage in transportation, while at the same time light enough tomeet requirements and to minimize the cost of manufacture and keep downthe cost of expressage and freight in order to make such articlesavailable. By means of the construction herein described and illustratedin the drawings, a practical, light and exceedingly strong, rigid anddurable basket is obtained which is admirably adapted for the purposeabove described.

The invention consists in the novel construction, combination andarrangement hereinafter fully described, illustrated and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure l is a perspective view of thecompleted basket of this invention. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view,on an enlarged scale, of one of the upper corner joints. Fig. 3 is asimilar view of one of the lower joints. Fig. 4 is a plan view of theblank from which the basket is formed.

The basket, as a whole, is made in one piece of fabric which is composedof two series of wires, the wires of each series being parallel to eachother, while the wires of one series are laid upon the wires of theother series and across the same at right angles thereto, all of thewires of both series being electrically welded together at theircrossing points, thereby producing the same effect as if the wires wereall integral or in one piece, making the joints or crossing pointsperfectly rigid so that there is no relative play or movement whatever.In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the meshes between thewires are elongated in one direction, caused by arranging the wires ofone series nearer to each other than the wires of the series extendingat right angles thereto.

l designates what are termed the longitudinal or main fabric wires,while 2 designates the transverse or stay wires. The corner portions ofthe iat blank, as shown in Fig. 4 are cut away as at 3 to form the sidesand ends of the basket, leaving a rectangular body portion of the blankwhich constitutes the bottom of the completed basket. Certain wires ofthe sides and ends thus formed are left projecting as shown, 4designating the projecting wires of the sides and 5 the projecting endsof wires of the ends of the basket. The sides and ends are folded intothe relation shown in Fig. l, the opposite sides and ends being slightlyout of parallel so as to give an upward flare to the completed basket,as shown in Fig. 1, in order to permit a number of baskets to be nestedtogether for -the sake of compactness, a feature especially valuable inthe return of the baskets to the dealer ormanufacturer after the shippedgoods have been delivered.

In folding the basket in the manner above described the outer marginalwires 6 become the top wires of the basket sides, while the outermarginal wires 7 of the ends become the top wires of the basket ends, asseen by a comparison of Figs. 1 and 4. The longitudinal or main fabricwires of the blank become the stay wires of the basket ends, while thecross or stay wires of the blank become the stay wires of the basketsides. rlhe wires 8 and 9 of the blank form the bottom corner wires ofthe completed basket, while the opposite end portions Sand 9 of saidwires form the upright corner wires of the completed basket. Theprojecting wires 4 and 5 are then brought tof gether and twisted orcoiled tightly around each other to form the corner joints l0 and 11, 10designating the upper corner joints one of which is shown enlarged inFig. 2, and ll designating the lower corner joints, one of which isshown enlarged in Fig. 3. In other words, the end portion 4 of the wire6 is wrapped or coiled around the wire 7 and the end portion 5 of thewire 7 is wrapped aroundA the wire 6. It will be noted that greaterspace is left between the corner wires 8 and 9 at the top than at thebottom and that while the wires are twisted around each other close upto the corner wires 8 and 9 in the lower corner joints,

intervening spaces l2 remain between the coils or twists and theadjacent corner wires at the top corner joints. The arrangementdescribed is productive of the desirable up'- ward flare which isimparted to the basket as a whole for the purpose stated, besides givinga strong connection at the corners of the basket. A sutlicient number ofcoils or twists are given to the joints to make them perfectly rigid,thus carrying out the rigid bracing effect above referred to throughoutthe whole structure. By reason of the construction and arrangementdescribed Awire of very light gage may be employed in the manufacture ofthe basket without impairing the strength, rigidity and durability ofthe basket.

Having now described the invention, what is claimed as new, is

l. A wire basket embodying a bottom, ends and sides, and composed ofwire fabric embodying two series of parallel wires, the wires of oneseries being spaced farther apart than the wires of the other series,and

25 the wires of one series being laid across the wires of--the otherseries and electrically welded thereto at the crossing point, certainwires of the ends and sides of the basket being projected beyond theends and sides and brought together and crossed at right angles atthecorners of the basket and coiled tightly one around and upon anotherbetween upright wires adjacent to the corners of the basket.

2. A wire basket embodying a bottom, ends and sides, and composed ofwire fabric embodying two series of parallel wires, the wires of oneseries being laid across the wires of the other series and electricallywelded thereto at the crossing points, certain wires of the ends andsides of the basket being projected beyond the ends and sides andbrought together and crossed at right angles at the corners of thebasket and coiled tightly one around and upon another bel tween uprightwires adjacent to the corners of the basket to form upper and lowerangle joints7 the upper angle joints heilig located farther from theupright corner wires than the lower joints.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

JAMES BAIRD PORTER. EDVIN BURDETTE JENKINS.

fitnesses ROBERT GEORGE MCKEE, GEO. C. JAEGER.

